Natural-language processing systems, such as kana-kanji conversion, machine translation, speech recognition and voice synthesis systems, operate a processing fundamentally based on the words stored in a dictionary and the linguistic information provided therein. Thus, it is difficult to appropriately process a word not stored in the dictionary, i.e., an unknown word. On the other hand, since the natural language changes day by day, there occur a new word and a new usage even in a known word, whereby it is generally difficult to store in advance all these words in the dictionary. Thus, this problem has been coped with heretofore by providing a user dictionary function by which each user can individually register a word needed by the each user.
Registration operation for a dictionary is a work that burdens a lot on the user. For this reason, methods of sharing the dictionary data which each user registered among the users have been proposed for the purpose of cost saving for the dictionary registration.
For example, Non-Patent Document-1 describes a method of releasing to the public on a dedicated Web page an updated dictionary or user dictionaries that the individual users prepared, thereby allowing the individual users to utilize the same. However, there is a problem in this technique that the individual users cannot directly know whether or not the dictionary that is useful to the users is released to open unless the users monitor the homepage at any time.
Patent Publication-1 describes a technique wherein individual users inspect in a cross-sectional manner the dictionary data registered by other users, to extract dictionary data that are registered in common in the user dictionaries of a plurality of users, and to reflect the extracted dictionary data, as the dictionary data to be shared, in the user dictionaries of all the users.
Patent Publication-2 describes a technique of providing a mechanism for managing individual user dictionaries in association with a specific technical terminology dictionary, wherein individual users inspect in a cross-sectional manner the dictionary data registered in the individual user dictionaries by the users, to extract the dictionary data registered in a plurality of user dictionaries in association with the same technical terminology dictionary, and to reflect the dictionary data in the technical terminology dictionary as the dictionary data to be shared, thereby allowing the dictionary data to be shared among a plurality of users.
In the above techniques, if the dictionary data that is automatically extracted is registered in the dictionary, it may rather incur degradation of the accuracy in the natural-language processing for a specific user. This is because, even if the extracted data may be useful to a majority of users, the extracted data is not always useful to another user. This is also because registration of the dictionary data including needless words increases the probability of leading the natural-language processing to a misjudging. Thus, Patent Publication-2 and Patent Publication-3 describe techniques of immediately informing to individual users that new dictionary data is registered in a common dictionary and inquiring whether or not the users use the dictionary data. These techniques are intended to prevent mixing of inappropriate data into the individual user dictionaries, by immediately informing the users that the new dictionary data is available and allowing the user to finally judge whether or not the dictionary data is to be used.
Non-Patent Document-1: NEC Corp., “TRANSLATION ADAPTER-II CROSSROAD Ver. 3 HANDBOOK”, 1999, P. 134-135
Patent Publication-1: JP-3464881B
Patent Publication-2: JP-2003-157257A
The first problem in the conventional techniques is that it is difficult for the individual users to judge the dictionary data to be useful or needless. This is because the users cannot judge whether or not the dictionary data of a word that the users do not use at that present may be useful in the future including the possibility.
The second problem is that, although the conventional techniques notify the user of the dictionary data as needed and inquire whether or not the dictionary data is to be registered, this fact itself hampers the user's action. This is because the notification and inquiry in the conventional techniques is performed without consideration of the schedule of the users that receive the notification and inquiry.